Monday, December 07, 2015

Why Second Life's Prim-Based Era Was Its Golden Age of Creation (Comment of the Week)

Veteran Second Life builder P. Gibbs wrote a really interesting rant on the state of Second Life creation today in comparison to Minecraft now and SL in its pre-mesh era which is worth excerpting here, because it expresses some key challenges Project Sansar faces now:

Just let me get some things out of the way. I love SL, you really gotta like something to spend 8 years of your life logging in daily on it, learning to create, perfecting your modeling, learning a new programming language and everything else that comes along with it to be a successful builder. I am a user and I create content, I love to visit other people’s sims, check out their own creations and pretty much the whole experience with "be what you want, do what you want".

But as it helped me grow as a creator (it drove me to study 3D Studio Max, Blender, Photoshop, Gimp and a bunch of other softwares for years) it didn't follow along the growth rate, and every minute studying just helped me to notice how harder it was to make something nice for SL than anywhere else. If you ever work with UDK, Unreal 4, even Unity, you will know that it's much easier to get something there to look and behave as you intended than it is in SL, and that is hell to content creation.

PG goes on to compare this to creation in Minecraft:

The reason Minecraft works so well is because content creation on it is EXTREMELY easy and in some senses even less restricted than SL is. If you want to make a door that opens with a lever you just place a door and a lever next to it and YAY it works. In SL you need to study LSL for 2 months to even grasp the basics of how to make 2 objects interact with each other, how to make the door rotate and etc... of course, you can use someone else's script, but chances are that as soon as you rotate the door to fit another hole in the wall it will break the way the script was intended to work.

This simplicity is what made user content creation work. If you think about 2007/2008, mostly everything was prim built, and I do gotta say that prims are awesome, and those are considered the golden years of SL.

Everything was pretty much uniform, all builds around the same level of professionalism, and extremely easy for anyone to build. If you searched for a "how to build in SL?" wiki page or video you would be set in 10 minutes to start.

Then the sculpties nation attacked. Sculpties "broke" the uniformity. You had much more control over what you were doing, and because of that, better looking things started to appear. People would go as far as make sculptie cubes just to make the edges smoother, you have a new and better tech, everyone goes for it.

Sculpties already were beginning to set things apart between new builders and experienced ones. You already needed outside software to use, but not really that much more experience when mesh came. It completely broke the whole "easy to make" part of the content creation. If nowadays a new player came to me and was like "HEY, that looks nice, how do I build something like that?" I would go "Sigh... you study modeling, unwrapping, rendering, texturing, animation and programming for 5 years and who knows, you might get there..."

And Minecraft actually looks pretty good. It's not about the graphics, but about the uniformity of it. Everything is a square, you can make something so big that it would look like a circle, but in the end, it's all a bunch of squares. SL is not even close to uniform anymore, especially avatar wise. If you get a main non-mesh avatar with a basic skin next to a mesh one you just go "WTF?", and that actually happens a lot.

All this pretty much rings true to me. Because Second Life looks like hyperrealistic metaverse, Linden Lab was pressured to upgrade to enabling mesh, but this took it further and further away from its prim-based origins. But because Minecraft was never hyperrealistic and launched from the start with its own particular "block world" substrate, it's remained that way and retained that basic, uniform charm -- even when Minecraft projects are sponsored by Verizon.

Comments

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I agree with the notion of uniformity. You buy a "professional" piece of content fro the MP these days and rez it and suddenly everything else in your parcel looks like crud next to it. But I suspect that is also a large factor in keeping the economic wheels turning.

I have to agree- and it is part of why our SL use dropped off profoundly; from daily visits and a half-sim parcel of mainland, to 512 and once or twice a month, if that.

The creative aspect- making clothes, building things, even scripting (Which, lets be frank, LSL is a cludge of a scripting system.) stopped being something you could just *do*, and became a *chore* with a severely steep learning curve.

Even just being in world became an ongoing chorus of 'sculpt shaming'- "You know you really should get some mesh clothes, you look like a n00b." "Why are you still wearing prim hair?" "Wow, your house is still made with sculpts?"

Mesh should have been the real golden age of SL but instead has had the opposite effect.

The reason is because scripters are stealing 3d models off websites or ripping them from games. Since they don't have to invest time in modeling, they price their product down below legitimate artists who put in the elbow grease making models from scratch and then have to collaborate with other scripters who force them to go 50-50 on the product leaving the artist no choice but to give their creations full perms to the scripter in hopes the scritper won't screw them.

The best thing the Lab can do to help combat this is to get it right in Sansar by creating UIs where everyone can program visually - sort of like using nodes. They also need to set up, maintain and continually improve common applications such as vehicles systems and combat physics that's accessible to all.

When the shackles that chain artists 100% to scripters are finally broken, then you'll see the golden age of building return again (but probably not to SL).

From being one of the last to use a mesh viewer i moved to learn blender, Daz and start doing my own mesh models, animations and scripts.
And all looks much better, if all respected the golden rules of building for Sl.
Make items mod by rezzing them in world, don't use to high rez textures when not needed, make sure your builds can be seen at a low lod factor.
A very good article about why the above is true:https://catnapkitty.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/how-to-not-buy-bad-stuff-in-sl/
And about the myth of Mesh creators ripping off models, a pretty neat site that explains which models you can use without any risk of being called a ripper:http://www.outworldz.com/Secondlife/Posts/3d_Models/
Btw, a former Well known and amazing Sl builder, now on His own hypergrid connected grid!
The golden age of Second Life was not the pre sculpted one, it is the one when all shared their common knowledge and the builds they made without only thinking of profit from them!

Mesh looks pretty, but it's not for amateur builders. So much for educators, but we were dunces to think SL was ever really for us, anyhow. We don't have the incentives and rewards, outside of design faculty, to learn pro tools for today's builds.

If I were still in SL with a class, I'd say we all get blocky-robot avatars and build with prims. Or just go to Minecraft.

I agree with Iggy's sentiment. I think that's the dividing line between the old SL (and OpenSIM) and modern SL/Sansar.

The old tools gave everyone an equal footing and were much more approachable (apparently not as approachable as minecraft -which is why they have the numbers). The wonderful thing about our platform was that you could enter it cold and use it as a springboard to learn or find your way into other forms of creation.

At this point it's fair to say that there is no room in SL for the amateur builder (and no chance in hell in Sansar) who has no previous experience.

This reflects a change in sentiment and values in the real world. In the real world we are going from placing value in democratic forms of creation (eg garage bands) to valuing pre-packaged forms of entertainment, and creation is becoming something that ordinary people are discouraged from pursuing in any serious way.

It's a sad development, but the switch from prim-based creation by a large number of people to mesh creation by an elite few is just a reflection of how the values of our larger society are changing.

For my part, I intend on applying to be in SL12B, and if accepted my build will be prim-based; just as it was in SL11B.

Sansar is going to have to return the control that SL has slowly taken away from it's amateur user. I was a little disturbed by the message that "content creators are king". If that's the case, I think it will be a series of pretty quiet kingdoms.

The success of Facebook and WordPress isn't because people go there to adore the creations of trained professionals. People go there to dream of being unique and more than they are. Sansar is going to have to make "me" king.

I'll gladly pay content creators and use their components and recipes, but I want to be the cook. I don't want to be a clone and drone at the mercy of content creators egos and market manipulation.

In the end, it's the people who put more money in than they take out that makes the world go 'round. It's about the consumer, not the merchant.

I hope LL is prepared to govern their new world and equip it better than SL.

Exactly my thoughts. I´d go even further and predict any kind of UGC environment which demands nore than basical knowledge on GIMP for content creation death on arrival.

Truly user generated content, as described in the article, was and still is THE major attraction, not the downfall of something like Second Life. Unfortunately Linden Lab spoiled that experience and never made any attempt to move beyond the 2006 creation toolset.

And I predict Sansar death on arrival if Linden Lab is not able or willing to give users all the tools they may need for creating their very own environment in-world. WIthout being forced to upload or even ay for models and whatever. They actually have a chance there, by providing more advanced and better designed toolsets now, but i doubt that they will take this chance. And if they don´t take it Sansar entirely will become just another uselss, pointless, pre-manufactured, soulless, lifeless 3D object sightseeing tour. Just another niche within a niche, not worth the investment and not worth risking the existance of Second Life.

The problem is that builders and content creators of old are perfectly fine with being mediocre and sticking to the old ways. Mesh came along and the market moved in that direction. I used to be one of those people. I forced myself to learn how to build mesh in blender. It was a headache and it took a very long time but it paid off.

I run a very successful shoe template business now and it's because I decided that I should learn how to do other things instead of sticking with the old.

I for one welcome Sansar and its new possibilities. We must keep going forward and not holding on to this romanticized notion of what used to be in the old SL. Those days are gone. Let go of the mediocrity, learn some new skills and move forward. Embrace change. It is the only constant in life.

Like anything, if you need to spend a great deal of time to learn how to do it, the odds of dropping out go up with the amount of time it takes to master anything.

This holds true for learning Chinese, learning how to cook classic French cuisine by making your own stocks with fresh herbs, doing complex ski jumps, and yes, learning how to make things in Second Life.

I have often said that the main problem of growing Second Life usership is mastering the complexity of the viewer. I have been in Second Life for almost 9 years, work in IT as a consultant, and STILL cannot figure out about 40% of what you need to do to call yourself a master Second Life user. It is far more complex that learning how to lay out pages in Quark or learning how to master Photoshop. The majority of people I have turned on to Second Life in the past 8 years have given up after two or three sessions because "they do not have time to figure things out".

I used to love prim-based mesh building. I built two gorgeous (well, in my mind) sims that were unique and fun to build -- and then I stopped with sculpties and mesh. Building with prims was instinctive and did not require much instruction -- just a few "how to's" from more experienced friends. I was able to build several cool skyboxes that were prim-based and sold on the old marketplace (they are probably still up there) five years ago. Then I stopped. I simply did not have the time to keep up. Second Life lost quite a bit when people like myself gave up building because we felt that we were way to behind on doing things.

But, graphics are everything. So if Second Life or Sansar or whatever is going to look even better, I am all for it. I will be damned if i am going to sit around with a "headset" for three hours a day to have fun -- what I do still must be screen based.

High Fidelity : Completely Open Source while being 100% Transparent while created to be free and even to create your own business with it ; .
Project Sansar : Big Secret . but admitted by its developer it may cannabis /or destroy Second Life .

High Fidelity : Create your own worlds inexpensively through Html5 that let's creators create experiences even Commercial derivatives of the hosting software : encrypted currency ; encrypted content to fight piracy : ability to use any creation tools you wish or even port tools into the master source code : very few if any restrictions on creation : import your own avatars : 2 market places ready if add the Kitely Marketplace . create not only your own experience but your own grid while being able to hyper grid between worlds : content creation protections for / against the ability to use bitecoin/litecoin or other Crpto currency's .

Project Sansar : Developer has stated complete proprietary but speculated to use Html5 web pages as the grid , closed viewer development ; creation restrictions : speculated to lack any advanced inworld building tools besides voxel terrains . It is speculated by that Sansar takes all the ideas of / about high fidelity packaging them up in a proprietary bundle .

Again the second time around residents will choose to pay for what can be done for free in high fidelity. .open sim 2.0. safe for creators while the software is 100% free

The silhouette of the vessel blazes in the distance to the eye . upon a sitting sun is were they will be found . Lost , cold , Leary and because they did not support the system of the free with it passing on. the only choices now..will be picking the sizes of the chains that bind you.

@Eddi, who claims "graphics are everything." Perhaps for you, but not for many readers here.

For many of us, UGC + in-world building + community were the recipe for SL's secret sauce. I think the early Lindens really got that. Not now.

Graphics are nice, but they do not a virtual world make or even a good game. They are at best a feature that deepens immersion.

I'd love to be able to build swanky mesh creations collaboratively and in-world if the tools were easy enough. No way I'm going to take professional time to teach myself Blender or Maya. I can get as big a monetary raise in the same amount of time for developing a new face-to-face course, and that content can be reused and tweaked many times. Moreover, I retain all my I.P. rights to the content.

I never really trusted the Lab there, since I could not export builds easily (or now at all, as far as I know).

Right. Not omly that Linden lab lost half of it´s cutomers since they introduced sculpts and mesh, which is quite SOME market movement. At the same time the real market (not the SL microcosmos) moved to Minecraft, which is entirely upload-free and in-world created.

It´s very obvious that off-world formats might attract a certain niche audience, but mainstream audience wants fun by creating things easily and inexpensively and all by themselves, not to pay real money for some stuff which someone else who in his arrogance thinks he´s better than "mediocre", only because he can deal with Blender.

If they cannot even offer this 5yr of level of tool quality then they are in trouble when Sansar opens.completely alienating half the user-base.

If they can then they might have managed to win back more inactive players while winning new ones.it will be a day of magic and miracles while completely changing LL reputation in a positive light.(holds deep breath)..if they listen while exceeding expectations.

I apologize if I implied that I was 'better', I think you missed my point. I was at a crossroads creatively, I could continue creating the old things that not many wanted anymore or I could learn on my own to make the newer things that are in demand. I chose the latter.

Why? ANYONE can choose to learn and make mesh. The only cost is time and uploading the mesh and textures. But no one is barred from it. You still have to upload things making the older stuff too, so that isn't an issue.

I have since learned other modeling programs, that I paid for myself and spent more of my time to learn, out of a desire to further my own education. Is it easy? No it's not but I love creating! It is worth it for me.

Again, I am not making a zillion dollars but I do make enough to pay my bills and have some extra. That is secondary to the creative outlet but it's high on the list.

Iggy, you can export any that shows you as original creator, into your hard disk on dae format, if you use firestorm or in my case, kokua.
So you can do a build just with reg prims and export it as collada.

Sorry, you miss the point. It´s nice that you paid for and learned all these tools, and that you manage to sell them to a steadily shrinking number of people who use Second Life. This might enjoy you and the shrinking number of people who use Second life, but in the midterm run it will not help anyone, neither you nor anyone else involved.

Ziggy made a lot of very valid points on UGC. She, nor me, did not attack the people who jump on the off-word tool train. It´s just a matter of fact that neither all these advanced off-worls tools nor all these "free 3D websites" (you know what i mean) which anyone can access made SL grow - the opposite happened. In fact, no comparable VR which was based on off-world tools (like Blue Mars, Cloud Party etc. etc. succeeded so far (in a mainstream sense).

While the attraction of a UGC VR based on in-world reativity tools is proven - by Minecraft and the early SL success.

I think it's maybe more the shared building experience than whether its "mesh" or "prims" if there was an inworld build function that made meshes and people could work on it together etc. I think the collab and building in world is the key not exactly the format and difficulty.

It's LL's sandbox they can promote whomever they want. It's good to see them promoting some of the better mesh designers anyway and steering people away from utter crap for a change. Good on them I say.

Looks as if the Feted Inner Core surfaces so slightly reaching the surface to rear an eight headed beast.
LL permitting certain social welfare for select residents as should be expected.
always has been and always will be if you want to see those same people pissed off part2 then wait until its public who got in first as beta in Sansar

Nothing new why even bother to complain someone up stairs has to care first regarding the matter.

Just another example of a company trying to deal with a flood of UGC which isn´t really the kind of UGC this company wants to see.

If the "selection" reflects what kind of UGC Linden Lab would like to see, fine. That´s nothing new, it only manifests the "vision" of a Virtual Reality, particulary Second Life, which Linden Lab promotes since years.

I just find it funny that they focus promotion on pixel Barbie fetishism now.